"Your Daily Tripod" reflects the personal Fourth Day journeys of its authors and editors. We are happy to have companions like you share in this project. Our prayer is that these reflections will invite and inspire your Fourth Day journey of Piety, Study and Action as much as writing or editing them inspires our journey and brings us all close moments with Jesus and our neighbors.

Sunday, October 06, 2013

Go and Do

The
LORD sent a large fish, that swallowed Jonah; and Jonah remained in the belly
of the fish three days and three nights.
From the belly of the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD, his God. Then the LORD commanded the fish to spew
Jonah upon the shore.
Jonah 2:1-2,11

But
a Samaritan traveler who came upon him was moved with compassion at the
sight. He approached the victim, poured
oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them.
Then he lifted him up on his own animal, took him to an inn, and cared
for him. The next day he took out two
silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction, ‘Take care of
him. If you spend more than what I have
given you, I shall repay you on my way back.’ Luke 10:33-35

Piety

Out of my distress I called to the LORD, and he
answered me; From the midst of the nether world I cried for help, and you heard
my voice. Jonah 2:3

Study

Why are these two readings – among the most well-known
stories in sacred scripture chosen for today, the Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary?
Before taking on that question, let’s first consider why we pray
the Rosary at all. Knowing that I cannot
answer for you, I boil this down to two reasons.

First, we pray the rosary so that we can know and
reflect upon the touchstones of our faith that make up the 20 mysteries of the
four cycles. If we do not know these joyful,
sorrowful, luminous and glorious mysteries, how in the world can we imitate the
lives marked in these stories?

Second, Our Lady has promised to provide grace to those
who pray for her to intercede on our behalf.
For the complete list of the promises, see this link: http://www.ourladyswarriors.org/prayer/15promise.htm. We cannot obtain these promised gifts if we
do not pray the rosary.

So for me, it boils down to imitating what it contains
in order to obtain what it promises.
That is how we end the rosary: “Let
us pray. O GOD, whose only begotten Son, by His life, death, and resurrection,
has purchased for us the rewards of eternal life, grant, we beseech Thee, that
meditating upon these mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin
Mary, we may imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise,
through the same Christ Our Lord. Amen."

We are not being asked to imitate Jonah in flight. However, we are being asked to imitate Jonah
who prayed to the Lord to save him from his distress. We bargain with the Lord, too. Want to get that scholarship? Want to get that promotion? Want to get that field goal? We turn to prayer to succeed in daily life as
if Jesus favors one student over another, one worker over another, or one
football team over another.

Jesus favors those who imitate Jesus. The Good Samaritan. The Reformed Jonah. The person who prays the rosary with
sincerity and with the intention of acting on the prayer.

Action

Go and do likewise.

Putting yourself into these stories can take many
roles. Imagine for today that you are
the innkeeper. We are asked to spend
more than what we have been given. When
we do, the Lord – our Good Samaritan, our Good Shepherd -- will pay us
back.

The stories of sacred scripture are not there for our
entertainment. They are not tonight’s
episode of NCIS or Modern Family. The
lessons of sacred scripture are the ultimate in reality entertainment. We reflect.
We meditate. We study. Not as an end in itself but as the basis for
action.

How will you imitate the Good Samaritan or Jonah today
after you get up and pray the rosary? How will you spend more than what you have
been given?